HumilityThe Beauty of Holiness

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.”Andrew Murray

In the twelfth and last chapter of Humility, Andrew Murray deals with the final outcome of true humility - exaltation of the humble one by God. The author begins with multiple New Testament citations, starting with Jesus' teaching in Luke 14:11: "He that humbles himself shall be exalted." This important lesson was repeated by our Lord in Luke 18:14, and was echoed by James in James 4:10, and by Peter in 1 Peter 5:6. The concept is key to Christian believers. Pastor Murray then goes on to make some of the following points in his final chapter:1. The Christian is commanded to humble self. This fact is repeated several times in this chapter. Pride, the enemy of humility, is conquered first by one taking a humble position before God and man. Then, the author declares, God does His work, which includes casting out pride, losing self, and then being exalted into the likeness of Jesus. The command to humble self is not easily obeyed, and will be met by failure at times in attempting to obey. The important aspect is to be persistent in trying, and to have faith in the grace that is present and will be made even more abundant for eventual victory. Humbly identify pride in oneself, and God will be faithful to exalt. He will remind one to be humble, and will give more grace. That deserves all of one's thanks.2. God deals with man in two stages in this arena. First, there is the time of preparation, which includes effort with failure to humble oneself, but then with training and discipline, partial success and the promise of greater things. Secondly, God brings a "time of fulfillment" in which "faith inherits promise," and "enjoys what it had so often struggled for in vain." This is a joint activity between God and man. Man's obligation is effort and obedience in attaining a humble state, and in knowing one's weaknesses. That leads to God's promise of dying to self, and to His exaltation. The whole process begins with man's total ignorance of all these things, and grows into "a longing for God to be all."3. Man's sincere attempts to obey God's command to "humble yourself" will lead to two conclusions: he/she has a depth of pride and a natural unwillingness to be nothing; and there is a weakness in his/her efforts and even her prayers to conquer pride. One must put only hope in God to defeat pride and have humility before God and man. Murray gives his own version of "practice makes perfect": he states that human acts establish habits which become one's "will" and "character." Therefore by repeated humbling of oneself one's will is strengthened by God into the nature of humility. By humbling oneself, more grace is made available, such that pride is conquered, and Jesus comes into one's heart to live "meek and lowly" forever.

4. Pastor Murray again exhorts the reader to humble self before God so that He will then exalt one. But what does that mean, to be exalted? Murray states that it simply means to be a vessel for nothing but God's glory. But one has to be nothing first before that can happen. The lower one becomes, the faster God's glory flows in. Exaltation by God cannot be separate from Him - one's glory is only in HIS glory! God's most exalting gift is more of Himself inside one, which can only occur when one has received the humility of Christ. Jesus is the ultimate proof that humility leads to exaltation by God. If we yoke ourselves to Jesus in His most humble form, then we can also become exalted by His Spirit. But we must be humble to receives "the presence and power of the glorified Christ.5. When God is all in His believer, then He gets His rightful place by lifting us up in HIS glory. Then we receive being perfected in Christ's Spirit, losing all aspects of self, so that being nothing becomes "sweet and natural." There are then no thoughts of self, no self-focus at all, just total occupation with God and Jesus Christ. In contrast, when we think we are "consecrated" in our faith, by our own self and effort, God is called in for self-exaltation, and we are devoid of humility, and farther from God. We may still miss the point that Christ's humility is self-less, and required for our humility and closeness to God.6. The chapter, and the book's body, finishes with these quotations from the author: "It is only in the possession of God that I lose myself." "How great is God! How small am I! Lost, swallowed up in Love's immensity! God only there, not I." And then: "May God teach us to believe that to be humble, to be nothing in His presence, is the highest attainment and the fullest blessing of the Christian life. He speaks to us: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit' (Isa 57:15). Be this our destiny!"7. (Don't forget to read "Note D" about the importance of humbling oneself in prayer before our Lord, and the author's "A Prayer For Humility" after the note section at the end of the book.)

Brief Comment: I hope that you have read all of this book, and that it has entered your heart with its instruction about how to humble oneself into the Spirit of Christ and His exaltation from His humility, that GOD MIGHT BE ALL, and the self gone. That truly is life-changing. Repeated readings of this book may be needed to fully grasp the author's message, so that it may truly impact one's life. In our two book reviews we have now encountered ideas about prioritizing our belief's and ideas in LOVE NOT THE WORLD, and the critical importance of humbling oneself before God and man to achieve by God's grace the humility of Christ, and in that, His exaltation by God. Thank you to everyone who has followed along with us in this series of book chapters. Thank Grover for the privilege of participating in this study. It certainly has been a blessing. Christ's love to all, Harv

Thank You! I sincerely appreciate your taking the time to summarize each chapter in the book. Your concise summaries have challenged my thinking and consideration. I enjoy going over your summaries and seeing if the statements I highlighted in the book are similar to your points........then I realized I was pitting my thoughts against yours and that was quite prideful of me. WOW! there it goes again! That pride thing. Lord Help Me! :)

Reply

Harv

4/19/2014 02:01:19 am

Thank you for your thoughtful and honest comment. Yes, this book certainly makes us aware of how prideful our basic nature is. We tend to look at life around us on a "me" basis. How freeing it is to know that our faith and salvation is NOT about ourselves, but about GOD through Jesus Christ. But that natural comparison . . . God alone has to truly remove all of that from us. Yes, Lord help us all!